1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to flavored compositions and methods for their preparation. More particularly, the invention relates to compositions and methods for preserving and prolonging flavor additives in foods, gums, medicines, and other orally-delivered products.
The flavoring of foods, gums, medicines, and other orally-delivered compositions is a matter of great concern in a variety of situations. In particular, with the advent of processes and manufactured food products, it has become necessary to take measures to preserve or reintroduce flavors during the preparation of such products. The palatability of many food and drug products is dependent on providing acceptable flavor characteristics which are either absent from the product or degraded by the preparation process. The problem is particularly acute with synthetic foods which are produced from basic proteins, starches, carbohydrates, gums, and the like, where it is necessary to introduce flavors which would otherwise be entirely absent. The problem is of equal concern in non-food products, particularly medicines, where the availability of a pleasing flavor can greatly increase patient compliance with a treatment regimen. Thus, the various pills, tablets, lozenges, and the like, can benefit from having a pleasing flavor.
Of particular concern to the present invention are foods and medicines which are intended to be chewed or held in the mouth for extended periods, such as gums, tablets, lozenges, hard candies, and the like. Maintenance of the pleasing flavor in the product as it is held in the mouth over time can be problematic. Prolongation of the flavor can be enhanced by increasing the initial concentration of the flavor additives in the product. Such initially high concentrations, however, can result in a very uneven flavor profile where the flavor intensity is initially very high at first and diminishes rapidly over time. Moreover, such an approach is of little benefit in preserving volatile flavors over time.
An alternate approach has been to microencapsulate flavors, typically by treating the flavor additive compounds to form a hard shell thereon. Such microencapsulation is of some advantage in preserving flavors over time, but still fails to provide a prolonged, even release of flavors over an extended duration. Thus, it would be desirable to provide improved methods and compositions for both preserving and prolonging the release of flavor additives in various food and medicine products.
2. Description of the Background Art
Microencapsulation of flavor additives in candies, foods, and perfumes is described generally in Kirk-Othmer, Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 3rd Ed., John Wiley & Sons, 1981, New York, Vol. 15, pp. 487-488. The use of flavoring agents in pharmaceutical compositions is described generally in Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences, Gennaro (ed.), Mack Publishing Co., Easton, Pa., 1985, pp. 1282-1284. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,827,452; 3,061,444; and 3,140,184, describe the use of carbohydrate complexes as vehicles for preserving flavoring agents in food products. U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,825 generally describes methods suitable for preparing polymeric beads useful in the present invention.